tomatoes
Fans of a wide variety of varieties will find tomatoes just as appealing as gourmet chefs and healthy eating enthusiasts. This popular vegetable also has a rich history.




Tomato variety
Tomatoes are the epitome of Mediterranean summer cuisine. The popular "pomodori" are by no means simply red and round. In addition to the classic red, there are yellow, orange, black, and green tomatoes; they come in solid colors or striped. They are sometimes round, sometimes oval, sometimes teardrop-shaped, or even not unlike a pumpkin. They can range from small to very large. The heaviest tomato ever weighed is said to have weighed 3.5 kg! And in any case, you can make many other delicious things with them besides ketchup. You can eat tomatoes raw, boil them, grill them, puree them, stuff them, or serve them with fish, meat, rice, or pasta. They taste great on bread as a savory or sweet spread, and almost everyone likes them in some form or other. They are grown and eaten in Europe, Africa, America, but also in Asia and Australia. In short, they have conquered the world.
Far-traveled paradise apples
The tomato plant began its triumphant march to Europe from the South American Andes region with the Spanish conquerors in the 15th century. The Aztecs and Mayans called it "xiytomatl," which means "swelling fruit." The fruit, introduced as seeds, had little in common with the supermarket tomato we know today. It was much smaller and yellow, which is why it is called "pomodoro" (golden apple) in Italian. However, several centuries would pass before the tomato found its way into European cuisine. Previously, it was cultivated as an ornamental plant (the love apple or paradise apple), and the consumption of the fruit, whose shape and color were sensual, was even temporarily forbidden for young women by the Catholic Church. It was suspected of causing lovesickness. By the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, however, the tomato was widespread throughout Europe.
Healthy, tasty, low in calories
Botanically, the tomato belongs to the nightshade family and is thus related to the potato, but also to poisonous plants such as deadly nightshade and thorn apple. The green parts of the tomato plant, i.e. the stems, leaves and unripe fruit, contain a substance that is poisonous in high doses: solanine. To be fatally poisoned, a person would have to consume up to 3 kg of raw, unripe tomatoes (which corresponds to a dose of approximately 400 mg). As the tomato ripens, this toxin breaks down and the substances lycopene and carotene are formed. In the human body, lycopene is said to have protective functions through its antioxidant effect, such as inhibiting the development of certain types of cancer (including prostate cancer) and preventing cardiovascular disease. The fact that tomatoes are also pleasingly low in calories and contain important vitamins such as A, B1, C, E and niacin are merely pleasant side effects in comparison.
Growing is easier than you think
Fortunately, growing your own tomatoes is quite easy; they're more robust than you might think. The minimum requirements are light, air, and no waterlogging. Tomatoes thrive in pots, planted against a house wall or on a balcony. It's important to keep the foliage as dry as possible to prevent fungal infections of the leaves and stems. It's also important to regularly pinch off the plants, removing any unnecessary shoots from the leaf axils. If you want to plant tomatoes, you can buy pre-grown plants at the market, or you can buy seeds and grow your own according to your personal preferences—in terms of taste and color. The selection is vast, as there are said to be over 2,500 different tomato varieties.
To good neighbors
Tomato plants make good neighbors for other vegetables in the garden. Carrots, radishes, turnips, and celery thrive in their proximity. So do lettuce, spinach, leeks, asparagus, and all types of cabbage, perhaps because the herb's scent repels pests such as flea beetles, carrot flies, and cabbage flies. Only potatoes, beets, fennel, and peas dislike tomato neighbors.
We Germans consume 19.5 kg of tomatoes annually—more than any other vegetable! Other record-breaking figures: the heaviest tomato weighed 3.5 kg, as already mentioned, the tallest plant was 19.8 meters tall, and the most productive tomato plant bore 32,000 fruits.